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Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

If you are a fan of ObamaCare, you can keep it, if you can afford it. If you like the Republican congress that just helped insure amnesty and ObamaCare is with us, at least for the short-run, you are stuck with them for at least two or more years.

If you read the article following the link pasted below, you may decide your Ocare is not be so wonderful. I’m sad to say, “Merry Christmas, anyway.” No really; “Merry Christmas,” and follow the link below for your lump of coal.

The former president of the Illinois State Association of Health Underwriters, Robert Slayton, said that in Chicago, Obamacare offers a restricted list of hospital participation. Walmart, on the other hand, belongs to a national healthcare network that provides almost twice as many participating hospitals. What’s more, Walmart’s network of doctors dwarfs Obamacare’s. “You will notice there are 9,837 doctors [under Obamacare]. But the larger network is 24,904 doctors. Huge, huge difference,” Slayton said.

Moreover, Former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey (R), who is now a health care advocate, affirmed that Obamacare lacked first-class hospitals. “It’s not just the number, but who they are,” she added. “You’ll find under the Obamacare exchanges that the academic hospitals have declined to participate, along with the specialists who practice at those hospitals. The same is true of cancer hospitals.”

Unfortunately, many top-rated hospitals included in the Walmart plan – such as the Mayo and Cleveland Clinics – are left out of most Obamacare exchange plans. Astonishingly, McCaughey cautions, “People who are seriously ill need to stay away from these exchange plans.”

In addition to better care, the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that unsubsidized Obamacare enrollees will incur monthly premiums up to nine times higher than Walmart premiums. JAMA indicated that the unsubsidized premium for a nonsmoking couple age 60 can cost $1,365 per month, while the Walmart monthly premium for the same couple would be $134 per month.

Complete with links to footnotes or you can scroll to the footnotes beginning at the end of the article. You will find some related articles after the footnotes.

Ten Broken Obamacare Promises

Since the passage of Obamacare in 2010, many of the President’s famous promises have been routinely broken. As he so ironically threatened in 2009, “If you misrepresent what’s in this plan, we will call you out.”[1] To that end, here are 10 promises of Obamacare that have already proved to be broken.

Reality: Millions of Americans have lost and will lose their coverage due to Obamacare.

Obamacare has significantly disrupted the market for those who buy coverage on their own by imposing new coverage and benefit mandates, causing a reported 4.7 million health insurance cancelations of an existing policy in 32 states.[3]

For those with employer-sponsored insurance in the group market, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that 7 million fewer people will have employment-based insurance by 2018.[4]

Moreover, the Administration itself has admitted that employers would not keep their existing health plans. Federal regulations written in 2010 estimated that 51 percent of small and large employers would lose their “grandfathered status” by 2013—meaning a majority of employers would not keep their existing health plans.[5]

Promise #2: “[T]hat means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period.”[6]

Reality: Many Americans might not be able to keep their current doctor without paying extra.

Many plans offered on Obamacare’s exchanges have very limited provider networks, decreasing the chances consumers will be able to keep their current doctor without paying more money.[7] Furthermore, many Americans who purchase coverage on their own have had their existing health plans changed or canceled due to Obamacare, resulting in some people being unable to keep their current doctors without paying additional money to do so.

Due to the significant payment reductions included in Obamacare, seniors with Medicare Advantage plans may be forced to find new doctors. The largest provider of these plans, UnitedHealth, has recently reduced its provider networks in several states.[8]

Promise #3: “In an Obama administration, we’ll lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.”[9]

Reality: Premiums for people purchasing coverage in the individual market have significantly increased in a majority of states.

A Heritage analysis shows that, on average, consumers in 42 states will see their premiums in the exchanges increase, many by over 100 percent.[10]

For people with employer-sponsored coverage, costs also continue to increase. For families, premiums from 2009 to 2013 have increased by an average of $2,976.[11]

Promise #4: “[F]or the 85 and 90 percent of Americans who already have health insurance, this thing’s already happened. And their only impact is that their insurance is stronger, better and more secure than it was before. Full stop. That’s it. They don’t have to worry about anything else.”[12]

Reality: Obamacare imposes certain new benefit mandates on those with employer-sponsored coverage—a majority of Americans.

These mandates increase the cost of coverage. In fact, federal regulations written in 2010 assumed “that the increases in insurance benefits will be directly passed on to the consumer in the form of higher premiums. These assumptions bias the estimates of premium changes upward.”[13]

But higher premiums not only cost people more money; they have other impacts on coverage as well. For instance, as a response to the direct cost increases associated with Obamacare, UPS dropped coverage for spouses of employees if they are offered coverage through their own employers.[14]

Promise #5: “Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.”[15]

Altogether, Obamacare’s taxes and penalties will accumulate over $770 billion in new revenue over a 10-year period.[16] Among the taxes that will hit the middle class are the individual mandate tax, the medical device tax, and new penalties and limits on health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts.[17]

Promise #6: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits—either now or in the future.”[18]

Reality: Obamacare’s new spending is unsustainable.

Obamacare was passed into law relying on a wide variety of unrealistic budget projections. A more realistic assessment reveals that it will be a multi-trillion-dollar budget buster. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated the cost of Obamacare over the long term if certain cost-containment measures were overridden. Under that alternative scenario, which assumes that “historical trends and policy preferences continue,” the GAO found that Obamacare would increase the primary deficit by 0.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).[19]

Senator Jeff Sessions (R–AL) and the Senate Budget Committee staff, who commissioned the GAO report, translated the 75-year percentage estimate into today’s dollar amount, which would be $6.2 trillion over the next 75 years.[20]

Promise #7: “[W]hatever ideas exist in terms of bending the cost curve and starting to reduce costs for families, businesses, and government, those elements are in this bill.”[21]

Reality: Health spending is still rising and is projected to grow at an average rate of 5.8 percent from 2012 to 2022.[22]

While growth in health spending has been slower recently compared to the past, that is largely due to the sluggish economic recovery. Indeed, Obamacare’s new entitlements will help drive greater health spending in 2014 and beyond.[23]

Obamacare makes unprecedented and unrealistic payment reductions to Medicare providers and Medicare Advantage plans in order to finance the new spending in the law. The cuts amount to over $700 billion from 2013 to 2022.[25] If Congress allows these draconian reductions to take place, it will significantly impact seniors’ ability to access care.[26]

Promise #9: “I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American.”[27]

Reality: Millions of Americans will remain uninsured.

Despite spending nearly $1.8 trillion in new spending from 2014 to 2023, the law falls far short of universal coverage. Indeed, Obamacare is projected by the CBO to leave 31 million uninsured after a decade of full implementation.[28]

Promise #10: “So this law means more choice, more competition, lower costs for millions of Americans.”[29]

Reality: Obamacare has not increased insurer competition or consumer choice.

In the vast majority of states, the number of insurers competing in the state’s exchange is actually less than the number of carriers that previously sold individual market policies in the state.[30] And at the local level, for 35 percent of the nation’s counties, exchange enrollees will have a choice of plans from only two insurers—a duopoly. In 17 percent of counties, consumers will have no choice—a monopoly—as only one carrier is offering coverage in the exchange.[31]

—Alyene Senger is a Research Associate in the Center for Health Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

[16]Joint Committee on Taxation, “Estimated Revenue Effects of a Proposal to Repeal Certain Tax Provisions Contained in the ‘Affordable Care Act (“ACA”),’” June 15, 2012, and Congressional Budget Office, “Table 2: CBO’s May 2013 Estimate.” The total amount of tax revenue collected from the individual mandate, employer mandate, and 40 percent excise tax on high-cost health plans comes from the CBO’s May 2013 estimate. For all other taxes, the amount of tax revenue totaled comes from the Joint Committee on Taxation’s June 2012 estimation.

[20]The Senate Budget Committee staff reported that they had arrived at their figure by obtaining from the Medicare actuary the exact GDP and discount-rate assumptions for every individual year, doing the equivalent calculation on a per-year basis, and summing up the estimated results. The staff also indicated that when they earlier shared their methodology with the GAO, they were told that it was a “reasonable method.”

[24]The White House, “Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care.”

[25]Douglas W. Elmendorf, director, Congressional Budget Office, letter to Speaker John Boehner (R–OH), U.S. House of Representatives, July 24, 2012, pp. 13–14, http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/43471-hr6079.pdf (accessed December 12, 2013). The letter estimates the cost of repealing Obamacare, which would increase Medicare spending due to the absence of Obamacare’s Medicare cuts. If Obamacare were repealed, the CBO states, “[w]ithin Medicare, net increases in spending for the services covered by Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Part B (Medical Insurance) would total $517 billion and $247 billion, respectively. Those increases would be partially offset by a $48 billion reduction in net spending for Part D.”

Hard Sell

Going door-to-door for Obamacare

Hollywood, Fla.
Standing here on the streets of Hollywood with two comely Obamacare cheerleaders by my side, I’m feeling fired up and ready to go. I’m feeling like the change I’ve been waiting for. I’m feeling like whatever Obama cliché you can think of. And all I want to say, like the late Todd Beamer before me, is, “Let’s roll.” Or more like, “Let’s enroll.” Because much as Beamer, God rest his soul, took on the terrorists who tried to take down America, we are now in a similar cataclysmic fight: the fight to guarantee that every American has the right to buy overpriced health insurance on a glitchy website, under threat of punitive tax penalties.

Gary Locke

I’ve come to Florida to go door-to-door with the foot soldiers of Get Covered America, the boots-on-the-ground division of Enroll America, which bills itself as a “nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to maximize the number of uninsured Americans who enroll in health coverage made available by the Affordable Care Act.” These Obamacare evangelists are very serious about the “nonpartisan” nature of their business. Nearly every Enroll America staffer I speak to emphasizes it, often repeatedly. And while it might strain credulity that an organization is nonpartisan which seeks to make sure people are Obamacared for by setting $100 million fundraising goals for itself, and conducting $5 million ad campaigns, and targeting 10 different states, 9 of which are coincidentally run by Republican governors, I choose to take them at their word.

Click on the following link to get to the complete story (three pages):

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The twitching, tingling Chris Matthews has looked up from his Obama reverie … finally found some “sense,” in his change purse of awe for the emperor with no clothes and zero credibility.

Who Dresses This Man

by Ben Shapiro18 Nov 2013As President Obama’s approval ratings plummet thanks to theunpopularity of his signature legislation, Obamacare, even MSNBC’s official Obama sycophant Chris Matthews said that Obama could hit the 20s.

ObamaCare and its many components continue to crash and burn due to dishonest Navigators acting as employees supposedly helping folks sign up for ObamaCare.

We tweeted a link to James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas Navigator fraud scenarios earlier. But this time we have posted the latest video showing encouragement from Navigators telling investigator applicants not to report side income and other information that would serve to increase their ObaamaCare premiums.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 13, 2013CONTACT: Joseph Montes at JMontes@afphq.org or (505) 366-9506

AFP Reacts to ObamaCare Enrollment Figures

SANTA FE — Americans for Prosperity-New Mexico State Director Joseph Montes released the following statement in reaction to the first report on ObamaCare enrollments from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“Americans were promised that they could keep their own doctors and policies. Yet millions of Americans – and tens of thousands of New Mexicans – are being notified that they are losing their health insurance policy. Today’s enrollment numbers from HHS only serve to highlight the unmitigated disaster that is ObamaCare and its failure to deliver on the health care promises made by this administration. Nothing short of outright repeal of this law would be sufficient to begin to turn around – not only healthcare – but also the entire U.S. economy. It’s no wonder so many of those who were able to visit the insurance exchange simply left plans in their shopping carts unpurchased.”

For further information or an interview, please contact Joseph Montes at JMontes@afphq.org or (505) 366-9506

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen-leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and intrusiveness of government is the best way to promote individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

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When Obama’s cabinet secretary in charge of rolling out electronic filing for ObamaCare benefits can’t get it right, even in her home State of Kansas, we would not be wrong in saying such failure does not come close to engendering faith or confidence in the program, the secretary or Obama. But I have surely repeated myself in saying so.

Nationwide reports on the glitches for the enrollment process are replete with tales of poor, if not dismal, performance. Please read the excerpt of one story found below and then view the video found at the link after the excerpt:

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 10/3/13 4:11 PM

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been President Barack Obama’s main organizer and cheerleader for Obamacare since its inception. But you know the government-run health care plan is bad when the Secretary of the Health and Human Services Department can’t get anyone from her own state to sign up for it.Today, the office of Congressman Tim Huelskamp revealed that according to one of the insurance providers in Kansas, none of the 356,000 uninsured Kansans successfully signed up for insurance on the much-hyped ObamaCare exchanges the first day. Huelskamp has had his own troubles signing up in the exchanges. The Congressman has been on “hold” for over 60 hours, and is still waiting to sign up as required under ObamaCare.

Congressman Huelskamp released this statement regarding the findings:

“These results are stunning. You would think with three years to prepare, President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius could deliver an operational website – at least in the home state of the former Kansas Governor. ObamaCare was and is not ready for prime time. 356,000 uninsured Kansans – and not one single report to my office of a Kansan successfully signing up for ObamaCare.

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We know it has been lies and many whoppers time and again from the man from somewhere since he first snuck into the POTUS room in the White House. In some instances, he didn’t actually speak the lie, so much as he hid the truth. And he knew he was hiding the truth every time he ginned up that smile full of teeth which seem, like piano ivory keys, destined to play the deception he has used to great effect … If consistent lies can be counted as “great.”

Here below, you can find an interesting story of the hidden abortion stimulus fund wedded to ObamaDare:

Today, 72 congressmen sent a letter to House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) urging him to insert language ending abortion funding and religious discrimination in Obamacare into any funding or debt ceiling legislation.

“[T]he Obama administration has committed unprecedented attacks against the unborn and the religious freedom guaranteed in the Constitution, all under the guise of ‘access to health care,'” the letter tells Boehner.

The letter implores Boehner to “incorporate H.R. 940, the Health Care Conscience Rights Act, along with a cessation of federal dollars for abortions into the continuing resolution or on legislation addressing the debt ceiling.”

H.R. 940 says that nothing in the Obamacare law “shall require an individual to purchase individual health insurance coverage that includes coverage of an abortion or other item or service to which such individual has a moral or religious objection, or prevent an issuer from offering or issuing, to such individual, individual health insurance coverage that excludes such item or service.”

H.R. 940 also protects employers and health insurers from being forced to buy or provide coverage for things to which they have a “moral or religious objection.”

Americans morally opposed to funding abortion may unwittingly sign up for one that does due to Obamacare’s “secrecy clause,” the letter warns:

“[U]nder the secrecy clause, plans that cover abortion are only allowed to disclose the abortion surcharge ‘as a part of the summary of benefits and coverage explanation, at the time of enrollment.’ Many families may choose a plan that covers abortion without realizing it or because the plan is the only one that covers the critical care that their family needs.”

An abortion “slush fund” bankrolled by a separate “abortion fee” charged to enrollees should also be struck from Obamacare, the letter says:

“Anyone who enrolls in a federally-subsidized health care plan that covers elective abortions will pay a separate ‘abortion fee’ of at least $1 per month into an abortion slush fund to pay for abortion on demand.”